Fuel-supply system



April 5, 1927.

F. F. DORSEY FUEL SUPPLY SYSTEM Original Filed March' 9. 1922 lmvgntwPatented Apr. 5, 1927.

UNITED STATES 1,623,049 PATENT OFFICE.

FARNUM I. DORSEY, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO NORTH EASTELECTRIC COMPANY, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

FUELsSUPPLY SYSTEM.

Application filed March 9, 1922, Serial No. 542,848. Renewed September25, 1926.

This invention relates to a system suitable for supplying fuel to anengine from a tank which is at a location remote from the engine,particularly where the tank is at a lower level than the engine. I

Where a fuel-pump is located adjacent the engine, in an arrangement ofthe kind in question, difiiculty is encountered owing to the fact thatthe pump will not always start into operation without priming, and owingalso to the fact that a volatile fuel, such as gasolene, may release asuflicient volume of vapor to interfere' with the pumping operation. Inaccordance with the present invention the pump, or the fuelimpellingmember thereof, is located adJacent the fuel-tank, and preferably atsuch a low level as to be always primed by fuel flowing by gravity fromthe tank. This location of the fuel-impeller involves the use of aremote power-connection with the engine; and a feature of the inventionresides in a novel and simple device for this purpose, by whichfriction, wear and lost motion are avoided.

Other features of the invention will be noted in connection with thefollowing description of the illustrated embodiment thereof. t.

The accompanying drawing is an elevation, partly in section, showing afuelsupply system in accordance with the invention.

The invention is illustrated in a form adapted for use in an automobile,in which the fuel-tank 1 is located at the rear of the vehicle, at a lowlevel, while the engine 2 is located at a higher level at the front endof the vehicle.

The specific means for introducing the fuel into the engine are notinvolved in the invention, but are illustrated as comprising an ordinarycarbureter 3.

The pump characteristic of the invention is shown as having acylindricalchamber 4, connected with the bottom of the fueltank by ashort pipe 5. The fuel-inlet is controlled by a check-valve 6, and theoutlet by a check-valve 7, and the fuel is discharged through a pipe orconduit 8 connecting the pump with the carbureter.

The movable member or impeller of the pump has, in the illustratedstructure, the

form of a corrugated diaphragm 9 of the bellows type, made of thinsheet-metal and capable of expanding and contracting longitudinally to asubstantial extent. This impeller is enclosed in the pump-chamber, andis connected, through a pipe or conduit 10, with a similar diaphragm 11located adjacent any part of the mechanism of the vehicle from whichpower may be conveniently der ved. Preferably, however, the power isderived directly from the engine,-in order that the fuel-pump may beoperated while the vehicle is stationary. The diaphragm 11 s attached toa yoke 12 which slides in the casing 13 enclosing the diaphragim and theyoke 1s actuated by an eccentric 14 driven by a shaft 15. This shaft maybe driven many convenient way from the mechanism of the engine.

The two diaphragms and the pipe 10 constitute a hermetically closedsystem, which is filled with some liquid that is stable under theordinary extremes of atmospheric temperature. Glycerine is a suitableliquid for this purpose. Consequently, when the fluidimpeller'ordiaphragm 11 is alternately expanded and contracted by the eccentricmechanism, the fluid flows alternately from and to the fuel-impeller 9,causing the latter to contract and expand, and thus to draw fuel intothe pump-chamber and then expel it through the fuel-pipe 8.

The pump 1s preferably arranged to provide a surplus of fuel beyond thatrequired by the engine, and a spring-pressed escapevalve 16 is used topermit the excess to return, through a by-passage 17, to the pipe 5 andthe tank. l Vhere the carbureter 3 is of the ordinary float-feed type,the escapevalve may be adjusted to maintain a pressure in the systemequivalent to a slight gravity-head at the carbureter.

Since the pump-chamber is located at the bottom of the fuel-tank, itwill always be full of fuel so long as any remains. Its valves aretherefore always liquid-sealed and practically certain to operate, andthe pump is free from the difliculties encountered where it is attemptedto raise gasolene or similar volatile liquids by pumping at the upperend of a conduit.

The inventor is aware that it has previously been proposed to actuate aremote fuel-pump by the alternations of pressure in an engine-cylinder,communicated to the pump-diaphragm through a conduit. Such arrangementhas proven impracticable, however, owing to the fact that theconduitbecomes cloggcd with products of combustion, and to the furtherfact that the gaseous medium with which the conduit is filled, beingelastic and compressible, does not readily transmit pressure impulses,at high speed, through a long and slender pipe. By using an actuatorindependent of the cylinder and piston of the engine. and a transmittingfluid which, being a liquid, is substantially incompressible, thepresent inventor has avoided the ditiiculties just described.

It will be understood that the drawing is partly diagrammatic incharacter, and that the invention is not limited to the details ofconstruction of the illustrated embodiment, but may be embodied invarious forms within the scope of the following claim.

20 The invention claimed is:

In a fuel-supply system, the combination, with an engine. a fuel-tankremote from the engine, and a fuel-feeding device adjacent the engineand higher than the fueltank, of a pump-chamber located adjacent andlower than the fuel-tank and communicating therewith; an elasticallyexpansible impeller in the pump-chamber; an elastically cxpansibleimpeller adjacent the engine; means, actuated directly from themechanism of the engine, for expanding and compressing the latterimpeller; a fluid-conduit connecting the two impellers, andconstituting, therewith, a hermetically sealed chamber; substantiallyincompressible liquid filling said chamber; a fuel-conduit extendingfrom the pump-chamber to the fuel-feeding device; andvalves controllingthe flow of fuel through said conduit.

FARNUM F. DORSEY.

